Prairie
“From the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans, white with foam,
God bless America, my home sweet home.”
--Irving Berlin, 1918, 1938 (revised)
The Westbury area and other neighborhoods in near southwest Houston, with their busy roads, mishmash of strip centers, 10,000-plus homes, and increasingly dense apartments, offer limited open green space. Over the years they have regularly flooded. This urban area was an unlikely place to discover a rare remnant of virgin coastal prairie and a tiny, federally listed endangered flower.
Willow Waterhole Greenway exists today mostly because of its development as a flood detention basin but also because of the two miraculous prairie-related discoveries.
What exactly is a prairie?
Prairies are ecosystems with a moderate climate, moderate rainfall, an abundance of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, and minimal tree growth. Prairies can be classified in various ways on the basis of their precipitation levels (wet, mesic, or dry), their soil-related grasses (tallgrass, mixed, or shortgrass), and the extent of human intervention (virgin or restored). Virgin prairies are untouched, whereas restored prairies have been replanted after disturbances, generally human activity. Willow Waterhole Greenway includes a remnant of virgin coastal prairie and other areas of restored tallgrass prairie.
